SPORTS NEWS: NFL

Shane Ray's way out

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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">SO HERE COMES</b> the son of a Missouri football legend, in size 52 husky pants. You cannot take your eyes off of him, not because of his speed or agility but because he can't keep those damn pants up over his rear end. He doesn't run so much as he waddles. He is awkward, unsure of himself -- abandonment issues, his mother says -- and, if there are 22 boys on this football field, he'd probably be picked 21st.</div>
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But it is the fall of 2006, the year before her son starts high school, and Sebrina Johnson is desperate. She knows this has to work. Her only child's idol is an older cousin who has taken up with the wrong crowd, and, in a few months, will be murdered in a botched robbery attempt. Sebrina will be the one who identifies the body of that cousin, Justen Johnson, and will make the funeral arrangements.</div>
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Football might not look as if it will weigh too prominently in Shane Ray's future at this particular moment -- he'd already quit the sport once, in fifth grade -- but it's the best lifeline Sebrina can come up with. She can feel him slipping away, closer to the streets. She takes the doughy eighth-grader to a park where the 39th Street Giants are playing. The area is known for being sketchy, but it feels safe. She is greeted by a man named Tom Shortell, dentist by day, football coach by night.</div>
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In a moment that would change Shane Ray's life, Shortell sizes up the kid and asks him, "Son, do you want to play football?"</div>
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"Yeah, I guess," Shane says.</div>
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<img alt="Sane Ray " border="0" height="324" src="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0327/espn_a_shaneray_mem_576x324.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="576" /><cite style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #ababab; display: block; font-size: 10px !important; margin: 0px 0px 4px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thom McCallum</cite>"I know if there wasn't football ... I could be dead," Shane says.</div>
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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">MOST FOOTBALL FANS</b> would say that Shane Ray's life-changing moment hasn't happened yet. It will come late next month, when the consensus All-America defensive end from Missouri is selected in the NFL draft, possibly as one of the first 10 names called on the Auditorium Theatre stage in downtown Chicago.</div>
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After sleeping on floors and living in a ZIP code known as Kansas City's murder factory, Shane will not want for a comfortable bed in a safe neighborhood. He will make millions of dollars from an NFL team salivating for his first-step explosiveness, his strength and his versatility.</div>
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Sebrina will weep when his name is called. Shane will hold up an NFL jersey and be whisked to a new city and life. But it will not be his defining moment. He has had too many of those already.</div>
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"Everybody's like, 'Will he go first?'" Sebrina says. "That's great, but who that guy is and what kind of a man he is ... that's the biggest win ever. He's going to make somebody a good husband. He's going to impact so many lives beyond this platform.</div>
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"That's my biggest accomplishment."</div>
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For at least half of her life, Sebrina says, she didn't know a good man. She knew smooth-talking men with beautiful faces and large muscles. She knew the kind of men whose lives were preordained for trouble.</div>
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But a good man? She wasn't even sure one existed.</div>
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She'd first encountered Shane's father, Wendell Ray, at a Bally's gym in Kansas City. He was the biggest man she'd met in her life. She'd never seen anyone so handsome. It wasn't until after they started going out that she learned who Wendell once was, star defensive lineman at the University of Missouri, drafted by the <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/min/minnesota-vikings" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Minnesota Vikings</a>in 1981 before injuries derailed his career.</div>
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Everything with Sebrina and Wendell moved fast. About seven months after they met, she was pregnant. Right around the time she was due, in the spring of 1993, she knew that their relationship was over and that Shane would be her responsibility alone.</div>
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He weighed 10 pounds at birth. He arrived several weeks late, tangled in the umbilical cord, and had to be removed by cesarean section. Wracked with pain and hopped up on morphine, she didn't see him until a day or two after the delivery. When she held him, the baby stared at her.</div>
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Sebrina promised him the best life ever.</div>
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She insisted on giving him a name that was nonspecific racially: Shane Michael Ray. Sebrina's mother, Louise, balked about it, convinced her grandson was going to get beat up regularly because it sounded like a white boy's name.</div>
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Sebrina told her mom that was OK. "When he puts his name on an application," she said, "he'll get an interview."</div>
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Being an African-American male, Sebrina says, is difficult. Especially without a father. So she did proactive things to make sure he had an opportunity. He was not allowed to use slang. "Hell, no," she says.</div>
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Sebrina lugged the kid around while she pursued her college degree, exposing him to books and deep thoughts and expanded vocabularies. But no matter what she did, Shane still yearned for his father.</div>
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Sebrina eventually married a man named Emanuel McCrainey when Ray was around 6. McCrainey and Sebrina opened a Cajun restaurant called The Red Vine in Kansas City's jazz district. Sebrina made sweet-potato cheesecake; McCrainey coached Shane's youth football team. They were a family.</div>
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But then the marriage collapsed, the restaurant closed, and Sebrina and Shane, who was about 10 at the time, were on their own again. Sebrina had an information technology job before she got into the restaurant business, but that was gone, and she scrambled to find work.</div>
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They were thrown back into the inner city, back to the murder factory. Their street was constantly in the news. A small sampling of what Shane saw: a woman busting open a man's head with a baseball bat; a dead body lying in the street.</div>
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As times got tougher, Shane's outer shell became harder. One of the most important males in his life at the time was his cousin Justen, who was eight years older and had survived another shooting years before his eventual death in 2007. Shane always wanted to tag along with Justen. And the longer he was around that life, the more it seemed palatable. Sebrina knew she was losing him.</div>
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"Sometimes even parents out here lose hope," Shane says, looking back. "You have no outlet. You're stuck in this, and that's what they continue to feel. They're stuck in it forever. What's the point? Everyone else is on the corner selling drugs; everyone else is toting guns.</div>
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"When I think about my situation, I just always remember, whenever I would stick my head in the pond, someone was pulling me out."</div>
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<img alt="Shane Ray" border="0" height="324" src="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0327/espn_a_shaneray_576x324.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="576" /><cite style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #ababab; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 4px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">AP Photo/Brynn Anderson</cite>Shane evolved into one of the best defensive ends in the Kansas City area, which earned him a scholarship to Mizzou.</div>
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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">THE CONCORD FORTRESS OF HOPE CHURCH</b> is one of the many places Sebrina would pray for her son. J.J. Smith, a former running back for the <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/kc/kansas-city-chiefs" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kansas City Chiefs</a>, also attended the church, and he became someone Sebrina could turn to for advice. Smith urged her to see Tom Shortell, the coach of the 39th Street Giants.</div>
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The park was chaotic the day Sebrina and Shane arrived, with adolescents running around and paperwork flying about. Sebrina asked Shortell whether he needed some help. Of course he did. She grabbed a clipboard and became the team mom, driving kids around, handling details.</div>
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People around the program at the time of Shane's debut with the Giants paint a similar and rather unflattering picture of the future SEC Defensive Player of the Year. Shortell says he was shaped like a toad.</div>
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About the only place Shane moved quickly, apparently, was in front of a refrigerator. His cousin Ronnie Johnson says Shane would often go to a relative's house and polish off leftovers meant for a family of four. Maybe the food comforted him, Sebrina says.</div>
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But when Shane was on the field, he tried so hard. He'd go against anybody, get his butt kicked and come back for more.</div>
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Playing for the Giants did something else for Shane. He was surrounded by positive male figures. Shortell, who is white, has four boys, two of whom played with Shane for the Giants.</div>
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They immediately became like his brothers. He'd spend weekends at the Shortells' home, and the boys would wrestle and roughhouse. Shane was so polite that Shortell got to calling the kid the "New Eddie Haskell," a knockoff of the brown-nosing character from the old TV show "Leave It to Beaver."</div>
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<a class="enlarge" credit="Thom McCallum" href="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0327/espn_shaneray3_600x400.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #999999; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[+] Enlarge<img alt="Shane Ray in and around his hometown" border="0" height="200" src="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0327/espn_shaneray3_300x200.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></a><div style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;">
<cite style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #ababab; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 4px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thom McCallum</cite>Playing for the 39th Street Giants allowed Shane to be surrounded by positive male role models.</div>
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They ate hamburgers and hot dogs together, and Shane's weekends with the Irish-Catholic sports-crazed family flew by. Shortell says he didn't make a point of trying to help Shane. It just seemed natural. So when it was time for high school for Shane, Shortell suggested that Sebrina send him to Bishop Miege, a private Catholic school just over the state line in Roeland Park, Kansas. There, he told her, Shane would have structure. He'd follow a dress code and get hounded about his grades, and he'd play for Tim Grunhard, a former Kansas City Chiefs lineman.</div>
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There was only one problem. Bishop Miege cost nearly $10,000 a year. Sebrina worked and made sacrifices to send him there. But freshman year, Shane rebelled against the school's strict rules. He was constantly in detention, late for football practice and challenging the school's dress code.</div>
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Shane was going through a lot at the time. Not only had he lost Justen, but his aunt Carmelita had died of colon cancer a few months later.</div>
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Carmelita was one of Shane's biggest supporters. She collected his football jerseys. To get an idea of how close-knit the Johnson family is, everything revolves around Louise Johnson's house. She's the matriarch, mother of Sebrina and Carmelita, grandma to Shane. The cousins would play football in a patchy lot beside her house; the adults would always lean on Louise. Carmelita spent her final days in Louise's house, ultimately dying in her bed. For years, Louise refused to replace the bed.</div>
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Shane was a concern for much of the family, but nobody thought he was a bad kid. He was acting out, Shortell says, because he needed help.</div>
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2015 NFL DRAFT</h4>
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<img alt="NFL Draft" class="floatright" src="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2009/0823/nfl_e_draft_65.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; float: right !important; margin: 0px 0px 4px 8px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Round 1:</b> April 30, 8 p.m. ET<br /><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rds. 2-3:</b> May 1, 7 p.m. ET<br /><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rds. 4-7:</b> May 2, noon ET<br /><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Where:</b> Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, Chicago<br /><br /><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/draft" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">NFL draft home page</a></b></div>
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• <a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/165130/2015-nfl-draft-order-2" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">2015 NFL draft order</a><br />• <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft/mock/?season=2015&version=3&source=Mel-Kiper-Mock-Draft" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Mel Kiper Jr.: Mock 3.0</a> <img align="absmiddle" src="http://a.espncdn.com/icons/in.gif" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br />• <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft/mock/?season=2015&version=4&source=Todd-McShay-Mock-Draft" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Todd McShay: Mock 4.0</a> <img align="absmiddle" src="http://a.espncdn.com/icons/in.gif" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br />• <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft/mock/?season=2015&version=14&source=Todd-McShay-Top-32" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Todd McShay's Top 32</a> <img align="absmiddle" src="http://a.espncdn.com/icons/in.gif" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br />• <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft/mock/?season=2015&version=16&sourceId=2" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Mel Kiper Jr.'s Big Board</a> <img align="absmiddle" src="http://a.espncdn.com/icons/in.gif" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br />• <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft2015/story/_/id/12331333/mel-kiper-top-10-ranking-prospects-every-position-nfl-draft-2015" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Top 10 prospects by position</a> <img align="absmiddle" src="http://a.espncdn.com/icons/in.gif" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><br />• <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft/rankings?year=2015" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">NFL draft player rankings</a> <img align="absmiddle" src="http://a.espncdn.com/icons/in.gif" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></div>
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After all the troubles his freshman year, Shane wanted out of Miege. Sebrina was on the verge of pulling him when Grunhard encouraged her to give it another year to see whether he could work things out. His sophomore season, Shane was injured during a game, hit in the head/neck area. As he lay on the turf, he couldn't move, and he had to be carried off on a stretcher. It turned out to be a bad stinger, but Grunhard could see the look of fear in his eyes. For about 30 minutes, Shane thought everything might be over for him.</div>
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"He was given a second chance to kind of wake up and do it the right way," Grunhard says. "I think at that point he decided to make a change in his lifestyle."</div>
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By that time, Shane was starting to look the part of a serious football player. He had spent the summer before his sophomore year visiting relatives in New Orleans and mowed lawns from morning until night in the Louisiana heat. By the time he got back to Kansas City, he was hardly recognizable. He was no longer chubby, and he had experienced a significant growth spurt.</div>
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Shane committed himself to football, and slowly evolved into one of the best defensive ends in the Kansas City area. He led Bishop Miege to the state championship his junior season.</div>
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The University of Missouri, his father's old school, offered him a scholarship. When Grunhard found out that coach Gary Pinkel was going to extend the offer, he called Sebrina. He knew how important this was to her.</div>
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Grunhard had her hide in the hallway outside his office while Shane took the call from Pinkel. When the coach delivered the news, Shane's face lit up. Grunhard could tell he wanted to call his mom when he hung up. Then Sebrina walked into the room. Mother and son cried and hugged. In their minds, they had made it.</div>
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"She's very tough," Grunhard says. "She had to be the dad. She had to be the disciplinarian. But the biggest compliment I can give her is this: She was one hell of a mother."</div>
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Shane went to Missouri, endured more growing pains and attitude adjustments, and after redshirting in 2011, he backed up <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/16773/kony-ealy" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kony Ealy</a> and Michael Sam before becoming a starter as a junior. Before games, Sebrina would send him the same text. "Be great," the texts would say. "Be as great as God intended you to be."</div>
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His junior year, he recorded 14.5 sacks, breaking the Mizzou single-season record held by Sam and <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/13988/aldon-smith" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Aldon Smith</a>.</div>
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Sebrina was a regular in the stands at Missouri. And so was Shane's father.</div>
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Wendell, who was cited for nonpayment of child support, insists he's always had a relationship with his son. That's why he made the 125-mile trips from his home in St. Louis to Columbia to watch his son's games. When he sees Shane play, it reminds him of himself.</div>
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More from ESPN.com</h4>
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<img border="0" class="floatright" src="http://a.espncdn.com/i/columnists/chadiha_jeff_m.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; float: right !important; margin: 0px 0px 10px 8px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />Shane Ray drew interest from the Steelers and other teams with his speed and dexterity at Missouri's pro day, writes Jeffri Chadiha.<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/164691/pass-rusher-shane-ray-shows-off-speed-moves-at-mizzou-pro-day" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Story</a></b></div>
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<img border="0" class="floatright" src="http://a.espncdn.com/i/columnists/mcshay_todd_m.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; float: right !important; margin: 0px 0px 10px 8px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />Todd McShay updates his rankings of the top players at every position ahead of the 2015 NFL draft. <b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft2015/story/_/id/12551725/ranking-top-prospects-every-position-2015-nfl-draft" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Story</a></b><img alt="Insider" border="0" height="11" src="http://assets.espn.go.com/icons/in.gif" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="11" /></div>
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<li style="background: url(http://a1.espncdn.com/prod/assets/bullet-retina.png) 0px 5px / 5px 6px no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #555555; line-height: 13px; list-style-image: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px 9px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #333333; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/draft" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Complete coverage: 2015 NFL draft</a></b></li>
<li style="background: url(http://a1.espncdn.com/prod/assets/bullet-retina.png) 0px 5px / 5px 6px no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #555555; line-height: 13px; list-style-image: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px 9px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #333333; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/tag/_/name/2015-pro-day-workouts" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: rgb(96, 143, 214) !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">NFL Nation: Analysis of pro day workouts</a></b></li>
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At Shane's pro day recently, Wendell wore a T-shirt that said "The Original Shane Ray." When Sebrina and her mother, Louise, saw the shirt, they became upset. They asked him to take the shirt off or cover it up because they believed it was taking away from Shane's day. Wendell eventually put on his jacket.</div>
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He scoffs at the notion that he wore the shirt to draw attention to himself. He says he was an "icon" at Missouri and wore the shirt because he's proud to be Shane's dad.</div>
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"I don't want to sound arrogant," Wendell says, "but when Shane was born, here I am, 6-foot-5, 240 pounds, with my physical build and everything ... I expected him to be an athlete. "Sebrina has males on her side of the family. None of them are athletic at all. None of them played hopscotch. He got that athleticism from the Ray family. Right here from this family."</div>
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When Wendell's football career ended, it launched him into a depression. He couldn't even watch the game on TV for a couple of years.</div>
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But he loves watching Shane. Last year, after an early-season game, Wendell found Shortell near the locker room and extended his hand. He thanked the coach for spending time with his son and helping him out.</div>
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Shortell understands why, despite feeling abandoned for two decades, Shane would want to get to know his father. Life is too short, he says, and the bitterness would only eat Shane up inside.</div>
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Wendell says that he tried to be in his son's life when he was younger but that it's complicated. He says Sebrina didn't want him around their son. He relays a story about waiting in a Kansas City hotel to pick up Shane, but nobody in the house answered the phone. At the drop of a hat, Sebrina can rattle off the times Wendell wasn't there, and how it devastated their son. His signing day for Missouri. His high school games. The times when Shane was spiraling out of control.</div>
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Wendell grew up in north St. Louis, a rough area he says is nicknamed "The Belly of the Beast." He says it would make Shane's old neighborhood look nice. Although he concedes that Sebrina did a good job bringing up Shane, he insists he would've been there more if Sebrina had let him.</div>
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"He can't say I kept him from him," Sebrina says, "because that was never the case."</div>
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Wendell says he isn't interested in Shane's money or fame. He just wants to see him and enjoy him.</div>
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<img alt="Shane Ray" border="0" height="324" src="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0327/espn_g_shaneray_mizzou_576x324.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="576" /><cite style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #ababab; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 4px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jamie Squire/Getty Images</cite>Today Shane wants to be sure the other boys in his family get the same support he had in high school and at Mizzou.</div>
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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">IT'S A COLD TUESDAY</b> in Missouri, and Shane Ray is at his mom's house in Raytown, getting a haircut. Ray is debating the nutritional virtues of Chipotle vs. McDonald's with his cousin Ronnie, who has taken a liking to a vegan diet.</div>
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Ronnie is four years older than Shane, who lived with Ronnie's family during some of the tough times, when Sebrina was just divorced and looking for work. Ronnie, like Shane, battled weight problems as a kid. But there was an advantage to that; they were about the same size. They shared a pair of Sean John jeans one school year. Ronnie would wear them one week, Shane the next.</div>
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Ronnie, who's going to the University of Missouri-Kansas City, plans to live with his cousin once Shane gets drafted. He's ready to transfer to another school and finish his degree in communications, ready to try something new. He also wants to look out for his cousin as he navigates his rookie season in the NFL.</div>
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Whenever Shane's in town, Ronnie wants to go out, but Sebrina usually nixes their plans. One night recently, they hung out, and Sebrina woke up in the middle of the night and didn't see Shane's car in the driveway. She called Ronnie, Ronnie's dad and Shane. Turns out, Shane was home. She just didn't see his car.</div>
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"I will tell you this," Ronnie says. "His mother has always been very protective. I'm like, 'Auntie, you can't live like that. Anything can happen to anybody.'"</div>
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Sebrina knows this. She just doesn't want it happening to her son. When he's home, near the murder factory, near the place her nephew died, it's instinct that makes her pull him in tighter, even though he's a grown man.</div>
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Before Justen was shot, he had a son. Shane saw the path his cousin's life was taking, and, although he wasn't even a teenager yet, he made big Justen a promise: If anything happened to him, Shane would take care of little Justen.</div>
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A few months ago, Shane was in town when he found out little Justen, 8, had gotten himself in trouble. He found out Justen had stolen some candy from a dollar store. He took the boy into a bedroom at Shane's grandmother's house.</div>
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Shane told Justen he wasn't going to tolerate stealing. He said he'd be checking on him weekly and would call his teachers if he had to. When Shane left, the little boy was crying. He said he wasn't going to get in any more trouble.</div>
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Shane wants to make sure that someone's always there pushing little Justen to be better, even though his dad is gone.</div>
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"I know if there wasn't football ... I could be dead," Shane says. "I could be in jail; I could be in the streets. I could have nothing."</div>
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Ronnie Johnson was there for the toughest times, but he isn't sure that's true. There's no way Shane could've fallen. He had too many people waiting to catch him.</div>

NFL Shane Ray's way out

SO HERE COMES the son of a Missouri football legend, in size 52 husky pants. You cannot take your eyes off of him, not because of his spee...

Steelers re-sign Darrius Heyward-Bey

10:46 Unknown 0

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Wide receiver <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/12570/darrius-heyward-bey" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Darrius Heyward-Bey</a> has signed a one-year contract to remain with the <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/pit/pittsburgh-steelers" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Pittsburgh Steelers</a>, the team announced Thursday.</div>
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<a class="enlarge" credit="Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire" href="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0326/nfl_i_heyward-bey_d1_600x600.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #999999; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[+] Enlarge<img alt="Darrius Heyward-Bey " border="0" height="300" src="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0326/nfl_i_heyward-bey_d1_300x300.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></a><div style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;">
<cite style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #ababab; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 4px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire</cite>Darrius Heyward-Bey is back for a second season in Pittsburgh.</div>
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Heyward-Bey, 28, caught just three passes for 33 yards last season, his first with the Steelers. Heyward-Bey, one of the fastest players on the team, established himself as a key special-teams player and recorded five tackles on those units.</div>
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The Steelers signed Heyward-Bey to a veteran minimum contract in March 2014, making Pittsburgh his third team since entering the NFL as the seventh overall pick of the 2009 draft.</div>
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Heyward-Bey never fulfilled expectations in <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/oak/oakland-raiders" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Oakland</a> -- he averaged 517.8 receiving yards in four seasons with the Raiders -- and played a season with the <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/ind/indianapolis-colts" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Indianapolis Colts</a> before signing with the Steelers.</div>
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Heyward-Bey made the 53-man roster after a late preseason surge and drew a key pass interference penalty in an early season win at Carolina. But Heyward-Bey, who turned 28 on Feb. 26, never received regular snaps as a wide receiver with youngsters<a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/15873/markus-wheaton" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Markus Wheaton</a> and <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/16886/martavis-bryant" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Martavis Bryant</a> emerging as complements to Pro Bowler <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/13934/antonio-brown" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Antonio Brown</a>.</div>

NFL Steelers re-sign Darrius Heyward-Bey

Wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey has signed a one-year contract to remain with the Pittsburgh Steelers , the team announced Thursday. ...

Chad Greenway takes pay cut

10:46 Unknown 0

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<a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/min/minnesota-vikings" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Minnesota Vikings</a> linebacker <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/9603/chad-greenway" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Chad Greenway</a> has taken a pay cut that will give Minnesota more than $3 million in salary cap space, a league source told ESPN's Field Yates.</div>
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<a class="enlarge" credit="Cliff McBride/Getty Images" href="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2014/1026/nfl_g_rainey_b1_600x400.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #999999; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[+] Enlarge<img alt="Bobby Rainey" border="0" height="200" src="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2014/1026/nfl_g_rainey_b1_300x200.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></a><div style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;">
<cite style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #ababab; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 4px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cliff McBride/Getty Images</cite>Chad Greenway recorded a career-low 93 tackles in 2014.</div>
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Greenway's base salary for 2015, the final year of his contract with Minnesota, has been reduced from $7 million to $3.4 million, the source told Yates. Greenway will receive $1 million in guaranteed money and can make up to $600,000 from various bonuses, according to the source.</div>
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The restructured deal creates $3.225 million in cap space for the Vikings, according to the source. Greenway previously would have counted for $8.8 million against Minnesota's salary cap.</div>
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Vikings general manager Rick Spielman said earlier this month that the team wanted Greenway, 32, to finish his career in Minnesota. The two-time Pro Bowler has played his entire eight-year career with the Vikings.</div>
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Greenway recorded a career-low 93 tackles, tied for second-most on the team, last season despite appearing in just 12 games. It marked the first time since 2009 that Greenway failed to record at least 100 tackles.</div>

NFL Chad Greenway takes pay cut

Minnesota Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway has taken a pay cut that will give Minnesota more than $3 million in salary cap space, a leag...

Vikings look to Europe for new OL

10:45 Unknown 0

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The <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/min/minnesota-vikings" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Minnesota Vikings</a> announced Thursday the signing of offensive tackle Babatunde Aiyegbusi, an undrafted free-agent tackle, who never played college ball but most recently spent time in the Polish American Football League and the German Football League.</div>
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Listed at 6-foot-9 and 351 pounds, Aiyegbusi, whose name is pronounced bah-BUH-tune-day ah-YEG-boo-see, caught the eye of Minnesota's scouts during a pro day workout Monday at the University of Texas-San Antonio, which led to a Wednesday workout at the team's facilities.</div>
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"It's just surprising to me. I'm just so grateful of the opportunity the Vikings gave me. I'm aware that this is the real deal, that I have to prove myself," said Aiyegbusi, who goes by the nickname "Babs." "I'm ready to do it. I was dreaming [of this moment], and actually practicing back in Poland going every day to the gym, I was thinking 'If I would have been born in the States, I would have an easier opportunity to get there.' But I'm not. They told me [the NFL] would never happen, but it did. I'm very happy."</div>
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<a class="enlarge" credit="Courtesy of Adam Bair" href="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0325/nfl_aiyegbusi1_600x400.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #999999; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[+] Enlarge<img alt="Babatunde Aiyegbusi " border="0" height="200" src="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0325/nfl_aiyegbusi1_300x200.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></a><div style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;">
<cite style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #ababab; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 4px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Courtesy of Adam Bair</cite>The Vikings have signed 6-foot-9, 351-pound tackle Babatunde Aiyegbusi, who most recently played in the Polish American Football League.</div>
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A native of Olesnica, Poland, Aiyegbusi most recently played for the Dresden Monarchs of the German Football League. Aiyegbusi helped the Wroclaw Giants in 2013 win the Polish American Football League championship.</div>
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Interestingly, Aiyegbusi performed drills for scouts at UTSA's pro day Monday having just learned how to actually do them Sunday afternoon, after arriving at 3:50 a.m. from a 22-hour flight from Poland. Aiyegbusi's agent, Jeff Griffin, said the offensive tackle spent approximately an hour and a half learning the football drills he'd be performing the next day for scouts.</div>
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"For the Vikings I was a little stressed just getting off the plane, stepping into the locker room and seeing all those names I know from the TV, and from watching NFL games from the Internet," Aiyegbusi said. "When I was putting the Vikings gear on myself, I was thinking that this is the time to shine. There are a lot of things I've still got to work on. [The coaches] want me to work on my quads, with my legs, my hips. They want me to work more with the strength coach. So we'll just see where we're going to go from here."</div>

NFL Vikings look to Europe for new OL

The Minnesota Vikings announced Thursday the signing of offensive tackle Babatunde Aiyegbusi, an undrafted free-agent tackle, who never p...

City, county unite to keep Chargers

10:44 Unknown 0

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SAN DIEGO -- Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced Thursday that the city and county will collaborate on an agreement allowing the two government entities to hire a high-powered negotiation team, expert attorneys and an investment banker to facilitate future talks on a stadium deal with the <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/sd/san-diego-chargers" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">San Diego Chargers</a>.</div>
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The expert consultants, Faulconer said, will help vet a conceptual finance plan for a stadium proposal at the Mission Valley site recommended by the citizens' stadium advisory group that he should receive by May 20.</div>
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<a class="enlarge" credit="Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images" href="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0216/nfl_g_qualcomm01jr_C_600x400.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #999999; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[+] Enlarge<img alt="Qualcomm Stadium" border="0" height="200" src="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0216/nfl_g_qualcomm01jr_C_300x200.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></a><div style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;">
<cite style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #ababab; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 4px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images</cite>San Diego city and county will work together on a new stadium proposal for the Chargers. They also collaborated on Qualcomm Stadium in the '60s.</div>
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Faulconer said the group will split the costs for the consultants, which could exceed $500,000.</div>
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"This partnership helps make it official, that the entire San Diego region is united," Faulconer said. "We are coming together, and there is real progress that is being made."</div>
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In 1964, the city and county collaborated on the financing and construction of Qualcomm Stadium. This group hopes to achieve the same thing with a replacement facility for the Chargers.</div>
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The collaboration between the city and county is an important one because the county carries a triple-A credit rating and hundreds of millions in reserves, allowing the government agency to help serve as a financier for any stadium deal.</div>
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The group did not set a timetable on when it would have an official proposal to present to the team.</div>
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Faulconer was joined by San Diego county supervisors Ron Roberts and Dianne Jacob for the announcement.</div>
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"We want to have a positive result," Roberts said, "but we also want to have a fair result. We want something that the residents of our communities will feel comfortable and take some pride in. And we want to end up with a new stadium here."</div>
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Jacob, a longtime Chargers season-ticket holder, said that while she wants the team to stay, she is also interested in getting a fair deal that protects taxpayers.</div>
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"I love the Chargers," Jacob said, "but I have to look at this as a business decision first, just exactly like the Chargers would. I said for years, and I'll say it again: If county government puts skin into the game, we must make sure that any agreement with the Chargers is a good deal for taxpayers. And that's my bottom line."</div>
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Jacob said she would like to see more than an NFL stadium at the Qualcomm site -- a world-class entertainment venue in partnership with San Diego State and the San Diego River conservancy.</div>
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"I understand the economic benefit of keeping the Bolts in this city," said council member Myrtle Cole, chairwoman of the council's economic development committee. "We want a stadium that residents can be proud of and can successfully compete for world-class sporting and entertainment events."</div>
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Faulconer said he remains committed to a public vote, which will not require a two-thirds majority, on any stadium proposal and that it will not require any new taxes.</div>
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He also said any stadium proposal San Diego generates will be "more than competitive" with the team's proposal to share a $1.7 billion NFL stadium with the <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/oak/oakland-raiders" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Oakland Raiders</a> in Carson, California.</div>
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Eric Grubman, the league's point man on relocation, is expected to travel to San Diego and speak with the stadium advisory group April 7. Faulconer said the last time he spoke to Chargers team president Dean Spanos was several weeks ago.</div>
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"It's extremely important," Faulconer said when asked about the NFL's involvement in San Diego's stadium effort. "I had a very productive conversation with Commissioner Goodell a couple weeks ago. He's going to be sending out Mr. Grubman from the NFL, and he's going to be meeting with the citizens' group. There's some very positive momentum, and they will be able to see firsthand what we are doing as combined city and county to have a plan that is real."</div>
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San Diego city attorney Jan Goldsmith believes the Chargers will stay true to their word and work to get something done that keeps the team in town.</div>
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"We expect the Chargers to sit down and negotiate in good faith and work with us hard on this deal, as they have said they would do," Goldsmith said. "And so we look forward to them doing that with us."</div>

NFL City, county unite to keep Chargers

SAN DIEGO -- Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced Thursday that the city and county will collaborate on an agreement allowing the two government...

Neurologist lauds new NFL injury rule

10:43 Unknown 0

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TEMPE, Ariz. -- A safety rule instituted earlier this week by NFL owners, which gives trainers at every game <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12551912/nfl-owners-vote-allow-medical-out" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">the authority to stop a contest</a> if they think a player needs to be evaluated for a head injury, is being celebrated by some in the sports-medicine world.</div>
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Dr. Javier Cardenas, a neurologist in Phoenix who is the independent neurological consultant on the sideline for the <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/ari/arizona-cardinals" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Arizona Cardinals</a>' home games, said the new rule is a major advancement for sports medicine.</div>
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"In my opinion, this is the biggest thing for sports medicine that has come out," said Cardenas, a Barrow Neurological Institute doctor who is on the NFL head, neck and spine committee. "Where else do you have a medical provider that actually is calling a timeout in any other sport? None. None. Huge for sports medicine."</div>
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Owner-Approved Changes for 2015</h4>
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<img class="floatright" src="http://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/leagues/lrg/trans/nfl.gif" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; float: right !important; margin: 0px 0px 4px 8px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />Five safety rule changes and one replay rule change were approved by NFL owners on Tuesday.</div>
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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">For Safety Reasons ...</b><br />• Introducing the medical timeout -- a third party has power to stop a game if a player appears disoriented.<br /><br />• Rule for a peel-back block changed to include all offensive players being penalized as opposed to just those inside the tackle box.<br /><br />• Rule protecting receivers changed, extending the protection if the pass is intercepted and they remain unable to defend themselves from a hit.<br /><br />• Outside the tight end area, it is now illegal for a back to chop a defensive player engaged above the waist by another offensive player.<br /><br />• Players are banned from pushing teammates at the line of scrimmage on punts and field goals.</div>
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<b style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">For Replay ...</b><br />• Addition of replay review for game clock at end of half, game, overtime if more than 1 second is on the clock.</div>
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Under the new rule, if the certified athletic trainer, who'll be sitting in a booth above the field as a spotter, sees a player who needs medical attention, he or she can use the official-to-official communication system to notify the side judge, who will then stop the game.</div>
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The purpose of the new rule is to allow Cardenas and other independent consultants at games throughout the league to evaluate players almost immediately after a big hit.</div>
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Here are details of the rule when the game is stopped for a medical timeout:</div>
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• The game and play clock will stop (if running) and remain frozen until the player is removed from the game.</div>
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• Both clocks will start again from the same point unless the play clock was inside 10 seconds, in which case it will be reset to 10.</div>
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• The team of the player being removed will have an opportunity to replace him with a substitute, and the opponent will have an opportunity to match up as necessary.</div>
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• No communication via coach-to-player headsets will be permitted during the stoppage; no member of the coaching staff may enter the playing field.</div>
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• No player other than the player receiving medical attention may go to the sideline unless he has been replaced by a substitute player.</div>
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If the independent neurological consultant on the sideline witnesses a head-to-head or head-to-ground hit, or sees a player come off the field looking dazed, the consultant will have the ability to contact the trainer in the booth. Then the trainer can call down to the side judge to stop the action and request that a player be taken out of the game.</div>
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"This has been an issue, a big issue, for the NFL for a number of years," Cardenas said. "You could argue why they're doing what they're doing, whether it's lawsuits, whether it's public perception, but regardless of why they're doing it, they're addressing every single angle."</div>
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The rule was partly a result of a hit on <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/ne/new-england-patriots" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">New England Patriots</a> receiver <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/12649/julian-edelman" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Julian Edelman</a> during Super Bowl XLIX in February. After a blow by Seattle safety <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/13336/kam-chancellor" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kam Chancellor</a>, Edelman looked disoriented but didn't leave the field, nor was he immediately evaluated.</div>
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Cardenas was working as the independent consultant on Seattle's sideline during Super Bowl XLIX and said he evaluated six or seven Seahawks that game, including defensive end <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/11326/cliff-avril" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cliff Avril</a>, who left the game in the third quarter and did not return.</div>
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Cardenas couldn't comment specifically on Edelman's situation, but said every player who showed any signs of head trauma was evaluated during the game.</div>
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"What you can correctly argue is the timing of the evaluation," Cardenas said.</div>
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Under the new rule the Super Bowl would've been stopped, and Edelman would've been removed from the game and then evaluated for a concussion. He may not have returned, which could've altered the course of the game because he caught the go-ahead touchdown with about 2 minutes left.</div>
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"This program is a very good program for evaluating athletes," Cardenas said. "It's a very good program for spotting for injuries. But there are always things that can make programs better, and the move that's been made by the (owners) is a positive one. It's a good one to make this program better."</div>

NFL Neurologist lauds new NFL injury rule

TEMPE, Ariz. -- A safety rule instituted earlier this week by NFL owners, which gives trainers at every game the authority to stop a conte...

Belichick exhorts NFL to add cameras

10:43 Unknown 0

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<a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/ne/new-england-patriots" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Patriots</a> coach Bill Belichick strongly voiced his displeasure Tuesday that the league didn't want to spend the money to put four cameras in the end zone to give referees better angles on replay reviews, a league source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.</div>
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The source -- who was in the meeting with NFL head of officials Dean Blandino, among others -- told Schefter that Belichick made his point with choice language.</div>
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<a class="enlarge" credit="AP Images/Mark Humphrey" href="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0204/nfl_a_belichick_d1_600x400.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #999999; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[+] Enlarge<img alt="Bill Belichick" border="0" height="200" src="http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2015/0204/nfl_a_belichick_d1_300x200.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></a><div style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;">
<cite style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #ababab; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 4px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">AP Images/Mark Humphrey</cite>Bill Belichick, peeved with the NFL for not paying for extra end zone replay cameras, admonished league officials in a meeting Tuesday, according to a source.</div>
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The source said Belichick expressed concern that the league is willing to spend top dollar to send the Pro Bowl to Brazil and play regular-season games in London every season but doesn't appear willing to spend the money to pay for the extra cameras it would take to cover all end zone angles to assist instant replay.</div>
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Adding replay cameras is a topic that Belichick has lobbied for at length in recent years. The Patriots repeatedly have proposed that fixed cameras be positioned on all boundary lines (sideline, end line, goal line) to supplement camera angles provided by broadcast networks.</div>
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Belichick vented similar frustration to reporters about the league's reluctance to fund new end zone replay cameras.</div>
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"It's disappointing every year we can't afford that, as a league," Belichick told reporters Tuesday. "They brought that up as a concern. It was kind of surprising to hear that."</div>
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<a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/dal/dallas-cowboys" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cowboys</a> coach Jason Garrett, meanwhile, was asked directly about Belichick's message in Tuesday's meeting and confirmed the gist of what the Patriots coach was saying.</div>
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"He expressed the importance of doing it -- the opportunity for us as a league to standardize this whole process," Garrett said. "I think if we're honest with ourselves, there probably are very few plays where we don't get a great look at it. But these are the scoring plays, these are the plays that they're going to look at. I think our ability to standardize that process as much as possible will help our game."</div>
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Garrett was asked about his support of the proposal and said: "I think we should do it."</div>
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<em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ESPN.com Patriots reporter Mike Reiss contributed to this report.</em></div>

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